ATP3 offers testbed facilities to the algal research community in Arizona, Hawaii, California, Ohio and Georgia. It supports researchers through outdoor algae cultivation systems and by providing them access to real-world conditions for algal biomass production for biofuel.
The partnership housed at the ASU’s Polytechnic campus is a collaborative effort of various agencies including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratories, Cellana, Touchstone Research Laboratory, SRS Energy, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, and Commercial Algae Management.
Commenting on the award, ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development senior vice president Sethuraman Panchanathan reaffirmed the varsity’s commitment to research and development and said that the partnership will continue to support the nation’s efforts to meet its energy challenges.
ATP3 director Gary Dirks added, "This algae national testbed will provide high quality data and a network of sites that will speed the pace of innovation."
The energy department’s comes from its Biomass Program and will allow companies and research institutes to have access to facilities and data from long-term algal cultivation trials to be used in further developing algal bio-fuels.
